It seems almost impossible to believe, but after seven lovely years, Hunt and I have put our beloved Tam Lin on the market and we're working on buying an equally wonderful property on the coast of Downeast Maine. It has been a sojourn of such depth and growth, building deep friendships, building our marriage and strengthening it day by day as we have lived our lives here. When we built this house I assumed I would leave "feet first".

But life brings its ebb and flow, and change can be good. This past summer we visited Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy. Hunt, who had lost his desire to paint when his dear friend Anthony died, suddenly found himself looking at colors and scenes with his painter's eye again. Since then we have been talking and dreaming of living by the salt water, leaving the violin business (which has been limping along at best), and building up the painting business again.

So, now comes the disorienting whirlwind of cleaning and showing the house, and packing it up to leave. These are rituals I am very familiar with, and I've come to realize that for me, "home-making" is a skill that involves creating a nest, and wherever I go I can settle in for as long as I'm called to do so. Would I stay in Nelson? Absolutely. Am I eager and ready to go to Maine- you bet- wholeheartedly.